Materials flow (commodities) refers to the systematic analysis and quantification of the movement of physical commodity materials—such as metals, fossil fuels, biomass, or construction minerals—through extraction, processing, manufacturing, use, and end-of-life stages within an economic or geographic system. In research, materials flow studies employ mass-balance principles and standardized accounting frameworks (e.g., economy-wide material flow analysis) to track inputs, stocks, outputs, and losses, enabling assessment of resource efficiency, environmental pressures, and circularity potentials. This topic underpins indicators like material intensity, domestic material consumption, and provides a basis for evaluating decoupling of economic growth from resource use.
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